There is a free shuttle service provided to camp attendees! Here's the info from the registration page.

SHUTTLE INFORMATION
Shuttle services from LAX are provided by Santa Barbara Airbus. For coordinating flight arrival times with shuttle transport to camp, please visit the most up to date shuttle schedule here. No reservation is needed, simply bring your registration confirmation to verify event attendance.

See you on the bus!

This Five Questions feature is all about Nolan Dutton, a barista and BGA member from Boulder, Colorado who calls Ozo Coffee his home away from home. He's engaged, and aspires to one day become a pro skier. And he lives in Boulder. That means he drinks a lot of microbrews, and listens to a lot of jam music. But he also LOVES coffee. Here's his five questions!

1. What's the best part about living in Boulder?
So many things are the best part of living in Boulder. The outdoors, the people, the music, the beer, the coffee and its community, all of these things keep me here and will for a long time. I am a music lover and an outdoor lover to the core and these two things pair amazingly well in this town. If you don't know what I mean, get yourself to Boulder! Mostly its the people though. My beautiful, soon-to-be wife, my co-workers at Ozo and the coffee and music communities in general really give me energy!

2. What do you see yourself doing 5 years from now?
In 5 years I hope to be doing some more green sourcing and buying. I was lucky enough to travel to Honduras in March and source a beautiful coffee from Las Capucas produced by Omar Rodriguez Interiano. I really enjoyed this experience of travelling and meeting producers and hope to do more in the coming years. While this is where I see my coffee career going, at the same time I never want to loose sight of my roots. I am a barista as well as the head roaster at Ozo Coffee Co, and while its definitely challenging splitting up my time, I truly enjoy both sides of the industry because I can bridge the gap from the abstract world of sourcing and roasting to the ritualistic world of the consumer.

3. What's the best beer you've ever had?
I love all the beers produced by Avery Brewing company (who happen to be right down the road from us), but I have to say my favorite is Pliney the Elder by Russian River. That sh*& is good! But if circumstance is involved, after a 40 mile mountain bike ride a cold PBR is hard to beat!

4. Why are you a BGA member?
I am a BGA member because I think community is more important than a lot of people like to admit. Whether it's locally or nationally, the community we are a part of has a big impact on our lives and helps to make us all better people.

5. If you could work a shift with any barista out there, who would it be?
This is a tough one! I got the honor of cleaning machines with Mike Phillips at the NWRBC in 2006 before he was famous, so he's out. I really enjoyed rockin' the BGA bar in Anaheim with Ben Helfen, he's a hard worker and an awesome guy so I'm going to pick Ben! I wouldn't, however, trade anyone for the people I get to work with daily!

From the great Mid-Atlantic Chapter Representative Julie Housch:

1. become a better barista.

You’re not going to be shooting espresso from your fingertips by the end of the your stay (maybe you’ll feel like you could, though), but by attending Camp Pull-A-Shot you’ll have the opportunity to attend classes, group sessions, mini-competitions, and be around so many things barista that you will come away with at least ONE thing learned. Will it be how to brew a better cup of coffee? Proper dosing? Perfecting a latte art pour? How to get more tips from a customer? What different coffee tastes like? What Santa Barbara looks like? I’m pretty sure I could list an entire page of things you could potentially learn at Camp Pull-A-Shot. And if you have already mastered these things that I’ve listed or could potentially list then you can freely enter into a battle of wits with me wherein you’ll learn how stubborn I can be. SEE WHAT I DID THERE?

2. get certified

The Barista Guild offers TWO levels of barista certification right now. Attend Camp Pull-A-Shot and have the opportunity to take BOTH certification exams. Yes, from zero to two could be you!

why get certified?

1. Demonstrate your knowledge of industry standards.
2. Contribute to legitimizing your job as a coffee professional/barista.
3. Expanding the pool of legitimate coffee professionals/baristas.
4. To possess a measurable skill set that you can to add to your resume and/or provide as a reason your boss should give you a raise (for reasons listed above and beyond).

3. save money.

If you were to get level 1 and 2 certified at another time it
would cost you $625 - that's not including meals and lodging and grand ol' time!

We understand that you’ll probably have to take time off from work, travel, and pay for camp. We hope that your boss or roaster or coffee patron will help you cover these costs, but even if you’re footing the bill yourself the total Camp Pull-A-Shot value is more than the amount of money you’ll be spending.

The bare-bones equation:

+	Level 1 & 2 Certification Tests 3 Nights Lodging All Meals 2 Group Lectures 1 Camp Tournament Perks & Surprises $550

Yeah, you expect me to say priceless. And, yes, the experience will be.

But it’s only $550 for Camp Pull-A-Shot.

Do the math.

I mean, could you really stay anywhere for three nights and feed yourself and do some activities for less than $600? And I don’t mean sleeping on your friend’s couch, either. We’re not asking you to do that.

4. meet baristas, build barista community, hang out with baristas.

This assumes you enjoy being a barista, think other baristas can be pretty fun people, want to be a better barista, want other baristas to be better, too, and want to pursue this over three days with lots of barista tools and knowledge laying around, and, hey, conveniently sans customers? (not that customers are bad, more that you won’t be expected to make them a latte when you’re trying to work on your tamp)

5. camp out.

The photos speak for themselves here (http://www.elcapitancanyon.com - click on the photo link, or just google map the place and view “more photos”), but, this isn’t Camp Beverly Hills. Or Camp Firewood. Or any fearsome summer camp you may have attended. It’s Southern California in October. Where most places are starting to feel the frost, you’ll be able to feel sand between your toes and see the Pacific Ocean, and maybe work on that barista tan just a little bit. Oh, and there are fire pits and s’mores kits.

6. have fun.

See #4.

This Five Questions post features one of the nicest guys in coffee, a dear friend of mine, and one of the newest members of the BGA's Executive Council, Trevor Corlett. He runs and manages both MadCap Coffee's shop and roasting operations in Grand Rapids, along with his old pal Ryan Knapp. He's a big part of the Great Lakes coffee scene, and has competed for years, as well. He's got a great wife, and two beautiful girls, with another on the way. Let's see what Mr. Corlett has to say:

1. What's the most important piece of information you've learned in your coffee career?
Every time I think I have coffee figured out it shows me a whole new avenue I need to experience. With every new experience I have I realize I can never know everything about coffee and I am reminded why I love it so much.
2. Why's your Cap so Mad?
Have you seen my Cap? Had my Cap? Experienced all there is to experience of my Cap? You know why my Cap is so Mad.
3. A shot of espresso or a manual brewed cup of coffee?
Well, I usually manually brew my espresso into a cup. So both. No but seriously. It depends on my mood and/or the coffee. The perfect day right now starts with a pour-over to ease the old palate into an espresso.

4. Why are you a BGA member, and why did you want to get more involved?
When I first joined the BGA it seemed like a great means to become instantly part of a larger community of folks that had the same passions as myself. At the time I was a shop owner in a small town with no coffee community to speak of and I just wanted a means to access as much coffee knowledge as possible. The opportunity to be more involved and contribute to something much bigger than myself was a no-brainer. Selfishly I found the more involved I became the more I learned from all you beautiful baristas.

5. Who's the barista you've most looked up to, and why?
Wow. That's not a fair question. There are a lot of baristas out there who's friendships I cherish and inspire me on a regular basis. So I'm gonna cheat and list two. First and foremost my boy Ryan Knapp, head roaster and barista trainer at MadCap. Ryan and I have been working together for more than four years now and he has always been there to push me, keep me honest, and keep me on my toes at competition. Secondly I gotta say Chris Demarse from Alliance World Coffee. Chris and I both competed for the first time at 2008 Great Lakes and shared a bond only two first time competitors can share. Being a spectator and participator of his coffee journey over the last few years has been a big inspiration. I always know that the wealth of coffee knowledge that is Chris Demarse is always only a phone call away.

Baristas take the written exam at TampTamp Inc., April 2010.

BGA executive councilmember Anne Nylander will be offering the BGA Level 1 certification exam on the following dates in New York and Providence, Rhode Island. For information on the exam and how to register, please follow the links adjacent to each date.

Friday, September 24th, at 11 am at TampTamp Inc.'s training lab, 248 Mercer St. New York, Ny. More info & register here.
Sunday, October 10th, at 9am at New Harvest Coffee Roasters, Providence Rhode Island. More info & register here.

The Mid-Atlantic/Northeast annual barista jam strikes again, this time October 8-10th, 2010. Contact Troy and Gerra at the addresses above for a full registration packet and detailed event information.

This week's post features someone not unknown to most people in the coffee industry, especially in the NE, where he resides, Philadelphia to be precise, where he is the Customer Relations man for Counter Culture Coffee. He's a born Canuck, he's been with CCC for the past 3.5 years. He's also helping with the upcoming Mid Atlantic/Northeast Coffee Conference, previously the Mid-Atlantic North East Jam.

1. Who is the person in coffee that's inspired you the most, and how?
When I was first working as a Barista in 1993, there was a fellow from our roaster who would come and hang out to watch and observe. He would also give friendly suggestions how to make better drinks. He was subtle and accessible, not elite or pretentious. Since I had received literally no training at this shop, I was eager to consume any advice he had to offer. This was Fred Houk, who a year or so later, went on to start his own coffee roasting business which he called Counter Culture Coffee, along with a business graduate from UNC named Brett Smith. Fred sparked a keen interest in me by showing me that espresso extraction could be runny and awful, or thick and delicious. He has since passed away, and Counter Culture brought on Peter Guiliano to replace him as director of coffee some years ago. But I think of him often and how his impression on me helped to forge a continuous thirst for learning about coffee. It was in my formative coffee years that I met him, and he was the primarily responsible for my early perspective on coffee. Freshness was of utmost importance, lighter roasting profiles showed best what coffee had to offer. Espresso should be closer to 25 seconds than is should be to 18 seconds (the prevailing shot timing of the day was 18-23 seconds).
2. Philadelphia is the City of Brotherly Love. Who have you shown
brotherly love to recently and how?
If you are referring to coffee shops and the like, I'm not going to use this to drop names (which ultimately leads to people having their feelings hurt who are not mentioned). If you mean people, my real brother lives in South Carolina, and we usually see each other at the holidays. Most every Sunday I spend all afternoon cooking for in-laws and neighbors. Everyone has an open invitation for some brotherly or familial love each Sunday at my house. If you are reading this, you can stop by too. Next up will be fresh home-made pasta with my own garden grown oregano. I usually do some coffee pour-overs also.

3. Why are you a BGA member?
My local chapter representative, Julie Housh, tracked me down at the WBCinWDC event a couple of months ago. She peppered me with high pressure sales techniques and relentlessly pursued me for membership. I had been contemplating membership since around 2006, but never made the move on it. Despite the fact that I subscribe to Groucho Marx's philosophy to never belong any club that would have me as a member, I signed. I guess Julie was just doing her part to build and strengthen a community of Baristas to further the professionalism of the job. That is something I believe we have in common.

4. What is the best coffee you've ever laid your lips on?
I have always been a little mystified by grownups' insistence that children choose a favorite color or favorite food. In some cases there may be obvious standouts, but for the most part, I never understood how one can place a certain thing above all others. I have had the privilege and opportunity to taste many really great coffees, and there really is no way for me to rank one as the best. You are familiar with the concept of the God Shot, yes? Well, I think a more appropriate question is "have you ever had a God Brew?". On a couple of occasions, yes I have. Most recently I was brewing a Counter Culture coffee from Jagong, Sumatra. Sumatra, I think, has often taken a back seat among some circles in the specialty coffee industry. I accidentally left my Clever Dripper sitting in the kitchen by itself for maybe 8-10 minutes. With little to no agitation, I drained it. It was deep, thick, sweet, earthy, dark molasses and cocoa, with a richness and layered complexity that was mind blowing; without any hint of over-extraction.

5. What's your current favorite method of brewing, and what are your
parameters?
Without the ability to accurately convey precise grind size (not to mention grind quality), differences in water quality and hardness, and no proper scale with which to measure agitation, I find it nearly pointless to communicate brewing parameters as if it were some kind of recipe one might use to duplicate coffee quality. So as long as you promise not to stay married to the numbers, I'll tell you. At home I like to use the Clever Dripper most often (but not exclusively) when making a single cup. -14oz of water to start -Generally about 23 grams of coffee grounds (it may seem light to some people, but a good extraction opens up great flavors that get lost in "strong" coffee)
-If %0 is French Press and %100 is Turkish grind, I grind at %35-%40
depending on the grinder. With a poor quality grinder I find it helpful to shake the grinds through a strainer to get out extra fines -I have measured my boiling point (dependent on ever changing barometric pressure) at anywhere from 205f to 211f, so I honestly don't know what my temperature is from one cup to the next -With fresh coffee, allow at least a full minute of bloom time so the grinds loose buoyancy, then I stir the surface just enough to make the coffee grinds sink -At about 4 minutes I use the handle of a stainless spoon to gently churn the grounds at the bottom in a slow circle, then drain -The surface of the remaining grinds look a little bit like a gently twisted shallow dome, with practically no grounds stuck to the sides of the filter

Yes!

VIDEO COMPETITION FOR BGA CAMP SCHOLARSHIP

Enter to win an all expenses paid trip to Camp Pull-A-Shot, the Barista Guild of America’s first annual retreat. Submit a video (3 minutes maximum) tell why you feel you deserve a scholarship to Camp Pull-A-Shot. Tell why it’s important to you, what you hope to get out of the experience and how you hope Camp Pull-A-Shot can help you become a better barista and coffee professional.

Submit videos to sarah@baristamagazine.com from now through midnight October 1, 2010.

Videos will be posted (with editor’s discretion) on Barista Magazine’s Facebook page, our blog, Pasteboard (baristamagazine.com/blog), and on the Barista Guild of America’s blog. The contest winner will be determined by YOU—cast your vote at Barista Magazine’s Facebook page. All videos will be available for view in the days following October 1 for comprehensive viewing.